The issue is not just health care, but the power of big money, he has never seen it so naked. Video of Bernie questioning Bernanke. He has asked for an audit of the Fed, and for the Fed to say who received the $$$. What should we be telling them?

• single payer (ultimately)
• progressively funded
• expansion of primary health care
• disease prevention
• universality

Defense Of Marriage Act. The world has changed, there is a generational split. We are making progress. Bernie voted against it.

Where does the money go to? Bernie does not get many lobbyists, they know where he stands. They want members to look at the world from their perspective. Plus campaign contributions. Would repealing the Bush tax cut and trade policy provide enough money? We could create lots of green jobs. FDR's programs in the '30s, how he educated people about big money. The president could do it, but needs our support, we should fight. The Republicans have nothing to offer but filibusters. Right wing stations are telling people to call congress opposing single payer, and the representatives do not get it.

The DOW going up, froth. Where is the economy at now, where is it going? It is mostly going up because analysts are saying it will get better, so people are getting into the market now rather than later. It is not getting better now, there are still a lot of layoffs, new production is falling, but not as fast as before - they call an improvement. Inventory cycle. They need to stock up now, so there is some increase. Banks are making money free from the government, passing it on at a price, but the volume is falling because people cannot afford to borrow. Profits rise because of layoffs cutting costs, but people laid off can't buy, so this is not a good rise. The bank profits go to rich people who do not stimulate the economy. Bonuses are going up rather than dividends. Goldman Sachs has its highest profits ever, which shows you, they are single-handedly wrecking the economy. We are now in the same position as September 2008 when it started to crash. He thinks there will be a big fall. Down very sharply. Oil prices are still rising.

How differently should they be handling it? They are all focusing on the wrong aspect, the banks, need to increase lending. Banks have a lot of money, can lend all they want, but the public does not have the collateral or wages. They should focus on auto, housing. For example, housing tax credit to those facing foreclosure. Washington is just facilitating a big money grab from a sinking ship? Single payer could save trillions. We're paying 17% GDP, Canada 10%, it would be a huge saving? Get rid of the Fed? Audit it (Ron Paul, Bernie want to audit it). Is the collapse of the economy a deliberate plot? Trickle down. Not a plot; greed. The corporatocracy have extended their power. Are money and power the same thing? The revolution will mean the end of money meaning power. Why are people still investing in 401(k)s? The market could crash next month. Friday August 6 [sic] Labor Department unemployment figures for July. They will say the lower drop is good news - but it means less buying power.

How to get a grip on campaign financing? He's optimistic in the long run, not the short term. Declines in so many things. Unemployment benefits are running out, people are no longer unemployed. They are living in a fool's paradise, soon things will erupt. Congressman Alan Grayson questioning Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. There used to be no such lending. Stimulus, multiplier, what is it now? China. 1:1, $1 spent is $1 production.

July 27th - Portland, OR - Baghdad Theater & Powell's Books 7p

July 30th - Seattle, WA - Town Hall. Details TBA

Aug 4th - San Francisco, CA - World Affairs Council. Details TBA

Aug 5th - Santa Monica, CA - Santa Monica Library. Details TBA

Aug 17th - Minneapolis, MN - details TBA

Aug 19th - Chicago, IL - details TBA

Aug 21st - Madison, WI - details TBA. There will be "Brunch with Bernie" with members of the audience getting to ask the questions.

Grayson: "We actually looked at one of the arrangements and one of the arrangements is $9 Billion for New Zealand. That works out to $3000 for every single person who lives in New Zealand. Seriously, wouldn't it be better to extend that kind of credit to Americans rather than New Zealanders?"

Bernanke: "It's... It's not costing Americans anything. We're getting interest back and it comes back, it's not at the cost of any American credit. We are extending credit to Americans."

Grayson: Well couldn't, wouldn't it necessarily affect the credit markets if you extend half a trillion dollars in credit to anybody?

Bernanke: We are lending to all US financial institutions in exactly the same way.

Grayson: Well, look at the next page. The very next page has the US dollar nominal exchange rate which shows a 20% increase in US dollar nominal exchange rate at exactly the same time that you were handing out half a trillion dollars to foreigners. Do you think that's a coincidence?

Bernanke: Yes.

Congressman Alan Grayson questioning Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, 21 July 2009.

I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half obviously there's been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there.

I actually just had a conversation with Sergeant Jim Crowley, the officer involved. And I have to tell you that as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation -- and I told him that.

And because this has been ratcheting up -- and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up -- I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically -- and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.

I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved.

The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America. So to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.

What I'd like to do then I make sure that everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people, not extrapolate too much from the facts -- but as I said at the press conference, be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African Americans are sensitive to these issues. And even when you've got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding.

My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a "teachable moment," where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities, and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now -- because over the last two days as we've discussed this issue, I don't know if you've noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care. (Laughter.)

I will not use this time to spend more words on health care, although I can't guarantee that that will be true next week. I just wanted to emphasize that -- one last point I guess I would make. There are some who say that as President I shouldn't have stepped into this at all because it's a local issue. I have to tell you that that part of it I disagree with. The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society. Whether I were black or white, I think that me commenting on this and hopefully contributing to constructive -- as opposed to negative -- understandings about the issue, is part of my portfolio.

So at the end of the conversation there was a discussion about -- my conversation with Sergeant Crowley, there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House. We don't know if that's scheduled yet -- (laughter) -- but we may put that together.

He also did say he wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn. (Laughter.) I informed him that I can't get the press off my lawn. (Laughter.) He pointed out that my lawn is bigger than his lawn. (Laughter.) But if anybody has any connections to the Boston press, as well as national press, Sergeant Crowley would be happy for you to stop trampling his grass.

Statement by the President, July 24, 2009.